The Olympics flag landed in Los Angeles on Monday following the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
What to Know
- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass arrived early Monday afternoon at LAX with the official Olympic flag.
- Bass received the flag at Sunday's Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo in an historic exchange between two female mayors.
- Tom Cruise appeared to transport the flag to LA in a very Tom Cruise way during the Closing Ceremony, but that action-packed sequence was all Hollywood magic.
- The flag, which will be taken to Los Angeles City Hall, will be raised at the main venue during the Opening Ceremony at the 2028 Olympics, the third hosted by Los Angeles.
- The Olympic flag was created for the Olympic Jubilee Congress in 1914 in Paris in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Olympic movement.
- A magnitude-4.4 earthquake rattled Southern California a few minutes before the plane carrying the flag arrived at LAX.
The official Olympic flag arrived in Los Angeles four years ahead of the 2028 Olympics after its flight from Paris.
This live blog has ended. Follow NBCLA here for updates on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
What's the latest on tickets for LA28?
By NBCLA Staff
UNSPECIFIED: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) In this image released on August 11, (L-R) Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg perform at the LA28 Olympic Games Handover Celebration. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for LA28)
Searching the internet for tickets to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics?
Hold off a little longer. You can’t purchase them just yet.
Tickets are expected to become available as the games get closer. The first round of tickets for the 2024 Paris Olympics weren’t made available until early 2023.
The Olympic International Committee suggests checking LA28.org for updates.
In an LA Olympics first, the San Fernando Valley will host events
By Jonathan Lloyd
The 2028 Games will mark the first time that Olympic and Paralympic events will be staged in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. The Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area in the west Valley will be home to archery, BMX freestyle, BMW racing and skateboarding. The location is the second-largest urban park in LA, behind beloved Griffith Park, home to the Hollywood sign.
Full story here.
LA28How Kobe Bryant will be memorialized at the Los Angeles Olympics
By Helen Jeong
6 sports were added to the 2028 Olympics event program
By Jonathan Lloyd
Gov. Newsom says ‘LA28 is going to deliver'
By Willian Avila
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are going to exceed expectations and set a new bar.
Speaking with NBC4’s Colleen Williams, Robert Kovacik and Olivia Garvey near the hangar at LAX where Mayor Karen Bass arrived from Paris with the Olympic flag, the governor said he wants to make LA28 “the best Games that have ever been hosted anywhere in the history of mankind.”
Mayor Bass: ‘We have the flag now. It's on us'
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stops to talk after arriving at LAX with the Olympic flag.
Why two LA 2028 venues are actually in Oklahoma City
By Jonathan Lloyd
Not all venues for the 2028 Olympics will be in Southern California. Two will be about 1,300 miles away in Oklahoma City.
The decision to move softball to the 11,000-seat Devon Park, which hosts the annual Women’s College World Series, had everything to do with logistics. No softball field in the Los Angeles area seats more than 2,000 fans.
The other distant venue set to be used in 2028 is Oklahoma City’s Riversport OKC, which hosted the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in canoe slalom. No canoe slalom venue exists in Southern California or the western United States, LA28 said in its announcement.
LA28LA mayor and delegation step off plane at LAX with Olympic flag
By Jonathan Lloyd
Mayor Bass, in a red USA track suit, and LA 28 chair Casey Wasserman stepped off the plane with the Olympic flag after a flight from Paris. Olympic diver Delaney Schnell and skateboarder Tate Carew joined the mayor and Wasserman.
Los Angeles' Allyson Felix welcomes Olympic flag at LAX
By Helen Jeong
Allyson Felix, seven-time Olympic gold medalist from Los Angeles, was at LAX when the Delta Air Lines plane carrying the Olympic flag arrived at the airport.
Felix, who was elected last week to represent athletes at the IOC for the next eight years, said everyone behind LA28 is “energized” that their hometown is next. The USC alum and Los Angeles native said she’s going to make sure athletes’ interest is the priority during the 2028 Olympics.
“We are excited to host the world and to show them what makes LA so special.”
Mayor Bass and Olympians wait to step off plane with Olympic flag
By Jonathan Lloyd
Mayor Bass and the Olympians are ready for the big moment. Bass was expected to be joined by Olympic diver Delaney Schnell and skateboarder Tate Carew.
Photos: Turn back the clock to the 1984 LA Olympics Opening Ceremony
By Jonathan Lloyd
The date was July 28, 1984. The location was LA Memorial Coliseum. The mascot was Sam the Eagle.
These photos capture the atmosphere at the 1984 LA Olympics Opening Ceremony. Among the highlights, torch bearer Rafer Johnson, a Southern California legend who died in December 2020, lit the Olympic flame. The 1960 decathlon gold medalist climbed the 99 steps to the cauldron in front of a crowd of about 90,000 in the same stadium that hosted the 1932 Olympics.
The Opening Ceremony also was notable for what viewers in the Coliseum crowd and at home didn't see. Many communist nations boycotted the 1984 Olympics that year, notably the USSR, East Germany, and Cuba, as retaliation for the US-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow.
Images: See the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics Opening Ceremony in Photos
Four years away, but not too early to start the Olympics party
By Jonathan Lloyd
LA 28-themed Delta plane carrying Olympic flag arrives at LAX
By Jonathan Lloyd
The Olympic flag is officially back in LA.
The LA 28 handover pin features flags of U.S. and France
By Jonathan Lloyd
There are several LA 28 emblems, each of which tells a different LA story. This is the handover pin featuring the handover emblem with the flags of the United States and France forming the A in LA.
Delta plane wears LA 28 emblem logo
By Jonathan Lloyd
When LA28 happens, should you stay or skip town? Here's advice from Parisians
By Helen Jeong
Many Southern California residents are already concerned about potential traffic and an influx of tourists during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. It turns out many Parisians with the same concerns left the city during the Paris Olympics, but they came back home with some regrets.
Here’s the advice from residents of the City of Light.
See venues for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
By Jonathan Lloyd
Images: See venues planned for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
These renderings show venues for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, including the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, SoFi Stadium, the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood and the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area in the San Fernando Valley.
No new permanent venues are expected to be built in Los Angeles.
Magnitude-4.4 earthquake shakes Los Angeles ahead of Olympic flag arrival
By Jonathan Lloyd
As the plane carrying the Olympic flag was heading to LAX, a magnitude-4.4 earthquake shook Southern California. The quake was centered in the South Pasadena area and felt over widespread parts of Southern California.
NBCLA reporters at LAX said they did not feel shaking at the location about 20 miles southwest of the quake's epicenter.
Full story here.
